Strong growth wasn't enough — investors needed a finance function they could underwrite. A Traverse fractional CFO rebuilt the model, standardized the metrics, and ran diligence directly with the round's lead investor.
Companies raising a Series A or Series B round often need finance leadership before they need a full-time hire. This is the situation a Traverse fractional CFO is designed for — see how the model works for early-stage and growth companies generally, or read on for how it played out here.
The company was growing fast and had genuine product-market fit — but its finance function was a founder-built spreadsheet with no scenario capability, and its headline SaaS metrics wouldn't hold up to real diligence.
The company's operating model lived in a single spreadsheet the founder had built two years earlier. It could produce a revenue forecast but couldn't answer the scenario and sensitivity questions a Series B investor would ask in the first meeting.
Net revenue retention, CAC, and LTV were each calculated a different way depending on who pulled the number. Early investor conversations were already surfacing inconsistencies that raised more questions than they answered.
Every investor question about the numbers landed on the CEO's desk, pulling focus away from the relationships and the pitch — the two things only the CEO could actually own.
Traverse embedded a fractional CFO two days a week, six weeks ahead of the planned raise. The first priority was rebuilding the model into something that could survive scrutiny; the second was taking every finance-related investor interaction off the CEO's plate.
Net revenue retention (NRR) measures how much recurring revenue a SaaS company keeps and grows from its existing customers alone — including expansion and churn, but excluding new-customer revenue. Investors treat it as one of the clearest signals of product-market fit, which is exactly why getting the definition consistent, and the number defensible, mattered so much here.
With credible numbers behind every claim, diligence moved faster than the company's own timeline assumed — and the round closed above the original target.
From founder spreadsheet to a scenario-ready, investor-grade financial model.
Series B closed above the founder's original $18M target.
Versus a typical 10–12 week diligence process for a round of this size.
Freed to focus on investor relationships instead of spreadsheet questions.
Every investor conversation got easier once we had numbers we could stand behind. Our fractional CFO didn't just build a model — she built our credibility, and she gave me back the time to actually run the process.
Net revenue retention (NRR) measures how much recurring revenue a SaaS company keeps and grows from its existing customer base over a period, including expansion, downgrades, and churn, but excluding new customers. Investors treat it as one of the clearest signals of product-market fit — an NRR above 100% means the existing customer base is growing revenue on its own, before any new sales. Definitions vary company to company, which is exactly why standardizing the calculation matters before a raise.
Series B investors typically diligence net revenue retention, gross and net margin, CAC and CAC payback period, LTV to CAC ratio, burn multiple, and runway, alongside a driver-based financial model that supports multiple growth and spend scenarios. What matters as much as the numbers themselves is consistency: metrics calculated the same way across every board deck and data room document, with a clear methodology behind each one.
This case study is an anonymized composite drawn from representative Traverse engagements. Client identity, exact figures, and identifying details have been adjusted to protect confidentiality.
Traverse fractional CFOs build the model, the metrics, and the data room investors expect — so you can focus on the relationships that close the round.
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